Hello, spirit-faring friends, and welcome to this episode of the podcast. This season, we’ve played games with a death theme, and this month, we played Spiritfarer from Thunder Lotus Games. In Spiritfarer, you play as Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased, taking the recently living to their final destination. Build a boat to explore the world, then befriend and care for spirits before finally releasing them into the afterlife. This game has fishing, farming, mining, crafting, cooking along with a great story about life, friends, and what comes after.

Give us a listen here or on your favorite podcast service. And, as always, if you played along with us this month, chime in in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page. You can also join us on Discord to chat about the podcast, our games, and other news for the community.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello, Brothers and Sisters! Welcome to another episode of A Study in Games podcast. This season, we continue on our theme of games about death. And for this episode, Robbie chose Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, developed by Starbreeze Studios AB and published by 505 Games.

Give us a listen as we dig into this clever story puzzler. And, as always, if you played along with us this month, chime in in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page. You can also join us on Discord to chat about the podcast, our games, and other news for the community.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello podcast world, and welcome to another episode of A Study in Games! For season nine, we’re playing games about DEATH, and this month Olivia picked that fantastic, open-world, investigation game, Paradise Killer from Kaizen Game Works, Fellow Traveller, and Leoful.

In addition to being the first time we’ve been back in the same studio space for this recording, we also had the wonderful fortune of being joined on this episode by our dear friend Loren. Go check out her brilliant work over at pixelloren.itch.io. We’re so glad to be back face-to-face after two years (!!!) and to have Loren there with us to hear her thoughts on this wonderfully weird game experience.

We had so much to say about this game that we even ran out of time before we could get it all in. Give us a listen and let us know what you think. And, as always, if you played along with us this month, chime in in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page. You can also join us on Discord to chat about the podcast, our games, and other news for the community. BONUS: You might even meet the REAL LIFE Loren hanging out there!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello friends, and welcome to another episode of A Study in Games podcast. This season, we’re tackling the subject of DEATH in games … no, no, not the scary, sad, creepy, kill-everything-on-the-screen kind of death. More the fish scene in the Meaning of Life kind of death. Like … what’s it all about?

This month, we played What Comes After from Pikselnesia & Rolling Glory Jam. It’s a neat little visual novel in a side-scrolling wrapper. You follow Vivi as she makes her way through a subway train filled with spirits on their way to the afterlife. Listen in as we talk about ways to tell stories, how to respectfully talk about death and existence, and creating powerful emotional moments in games.

And as always, if you played along with us this month, let us know what you thought in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page. You can also join us on Discord to chat about the podcast, our games, and other news for the community.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello grim friends, and welcome to Season NINE of our little podcast! This season, we’re talking about DEATH … or, more specifically, games about death. For this episode, we played Death and Taxes, developed and published by Placeholder Gameworks.

Join us in the podcast as we talk about the “snappy hipster tone,” making dark themes fun, and how much text is too much? Give us a listen, and as always, let us know what you think of these games in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Happy New Year friends and welcome to another episode of A Study in Games Podcast. We wrapped up our season of “short games” this month with Outer Wilds from Anapurna Interactive and Subsurface Circular from Bithell Games. Join us as we talk about short games as a way to focus narrative, timeloops in games, the finer points of “rogue-like” VS “rogue-lite,” and lots more.

Don’t let the short, casual nature of these games fool you: they both gave us a lot to talk about. Give us a listen, and as always, let us know what you think of these games in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello friends! Welcome to Season 8, Episode 3 of A Study in Games podcast. This season, we’re playing SHORT games, and we’re playing not one but TWO games per episode to make it worth your time. We thought it would be neat to compare two games that take less than two hours to play through. In this episode, Robbie took us on journeys through the wilderness in The First Tree and A Short Hike.

Don’t let the short, casual nature of these games fool you: they both gave us a lot to talk about. Give us a listen, and as always, let us know what you think of these games in the comments below or on our Facebook page! And be sure to listen to VERY end for an extra surprise.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello friends! Welcome to Season 8, Episode 3 of A Study in Games podcast. This season, we’re playing SHORT games, and we’re playing not one but TWO games per episode to make it worth your time. We thought it would be neat to compare two games that take less than two hours to play through. In this episode, Olivia picked two games with gritty-cute anthropomorphic animal characters Tooth and Tail and The Longest Road on Earth.

Don’t let the short, casual nature of these games fool you: they both gave us a lot to talk about. Give us a listen, and as always, let us know what you think of these games in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello friends! Welcome to Season 8, Episode 2 of A Study in Games podcast. This season, we’re playing SHORT games, and we’re playing not one but TWO games per episode to make it worth your time. We thought it would be neat to compare two games that take less than two hours to play through. In this episode, Brad picked the light and easy city builder, Model City, and the relaxing casual flyer, Aery: Calm Mind.

Don’t let the short, casual nature of these games fool you: they both gave us a lot to talk about. Give us a listen, and as always, let us know what you think of these games in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello SHORTIES, and welcome to this month’s episode of A Study in Games Podcast! This season, we’re playing SHORT games, and we’re playing not one but TWO games per episode to make it worth your time. We thought it would be neat to compare two games that take less than two hours to play through. For our first pair, Joe picked Dorfromantik (by
Toukana Interactive) and Slipways (by Beetlewing).

Don’t let the short, casual nature of these games fool you: they both gave us a lot to talk about. Give us a listen, and as always, let us know what you think of these games in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Greetings all you cave divers out there in podcast land, and welcome to this month’s episode. For the last game in our season of procedurally generated games, Tanner chose the classic game Spelunky developed and produced by Mossmouth. We were all surprised at how challenging this game was, but the challenge sparked a great little chat about how our perceptions of games change with age and our worldview as gamers.

Give us a listen on the link above or on your favorite podcast service. And, as always, if you played Spelunky along with us, please share your thougts with us in the comments below, on the Little Rock Games Facebook page, or on our Discord channel. We’d love to hear from you!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello storytellers and mythmakers, and welcome to this episode of A Study In Games Podcast. In keeping with our theme of procedurally generated games, this season this month, we played Wildermyth, developed and published by Worldwalk Games. As their website describes it …

“Wildermyth is a character-driven, procedurally-generated tactical RPG, designed to help you tell your wildest stories. Like the best tabletop roleplaying experiences, Wildermyth gives you choices and answers your every decision with consequences that drive your characters forward.”

Join us for the podcast as we talk about the magic of automated storytelling and the pitfalls of wanting to see behind the curtain a little too much. And if you played Wildermyth along with us, be sure to tell us what you think in the comments below, on the Little Rock Games Facebook page, or on our Discord channel! We’d love to hear from you.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hej Viking vänner! (That’s Swedish for “Hello, Viking friends!”) We’ve been playing the super popular Valheim for the month of March as part of our season of procedurally generated games. Valheim, developed by Iron Gate AB Studio and published by Coffee Stain Publishing, is a viking-themed survival-crafting game set in an enormous procedurally generated world. It’s been EXPLODING on Steam with over 5.5 MILLION copies sold in the first five weeks! Du skojar!

Join us as we talk about the survival-craft genre, the art of simplicity in making elegant games, and the thrill of being a fierce Viking who just wants to tend a little garden in the meadows. As a bonus, find out just how many hours Brad logged on both Valheim AND Elder Scrolls Online. The answer will shock you!

If you like the podcast or if you played Valheim along with us in March, let us know on the Little Rock Games Facebook page or on our Discord channel! We’d love to hear from you. Bygg gärna!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello fans of tiny, retro, pixel-graphics games, and welcome to this episode of A Study in Games podcast. This season, we’re playing procedurally generated games, and this month Joe picked Caves of Qud from Freehold Games. Join us as we talk about our nostalgia for retro RPGs, the art and poetry of randomness in big data sets, and leading your enemies into giant packs of baboons for the WIN! Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below, on the Little Rock Games Facebook page, or on our Discord channel!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Happy New Year, podcast pals! Welcome to a brand new season of A Study in Games podcast. Our theme for this season is procedurally generated games, and for January 2021, we played Kingdoms Reborn, developed and published by Earthshine. It’s a fun mix of city-builder game and civilization game with impressive procedurally generated maps, global trade economics, and an interesting “card” system that we haven’t seen before in this genre of game.

Join us in the podcast as we discuss the ins and outs of Kingdoms Reborn, the ups and downs of virtual economies, and the highs and (mostly) lows of “early access” games. And let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below, on the Little Rock Games Facebook page, or on our Discord channel!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Happy End of the Year, friends! We made it the end of another one, AND to the end of another season of A Study In Games Podcast! For Season 6, we featured games that were included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality that ran in June of 2020 in support of the Black Lives Matter moment. For the month of November, Tanner picked the wonderful life sim game Crescent Loom by Olive as his game of the month.

Join us as we talk about sim games, the game/toy paradigm, and a bunch of stuff that we only half remember from our Biology classes in high school and undergrad. And, as always, if you played along with in the month of February or if you have any thoughts or comments on Crescent Loom, let us know in the comments below, on Little Rock Games Facebook page, or on our Discord channel!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

My fellow Americans (and also non-Americans)! Welcome to this month’s episode of A Study In Games podcast. For Season 6, we’re featuring games that were included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality that ran in June of 2020 in support of the Black Lives Matter moment. For the month of October, Robbie chose “American Election;” Greg Buchanan‘s browser-based, choose-your-own-adventure, interactive narrative game about a fictional alterative take on the 2016 American presidential election. Just in time for the 2020 election, this game had us on the edge of interesting entertainment and nervous anticipation for what’s to come in the next few days … or weeks or … GOD PLEASE LET IT BE OVER SOON! Give us a listen on the link above or on your favorite podcast service. And thank you for VOTING TODAY!!!

As always, if you played along with us this month, join the conversation in the comments below, on Little Rock Games Facebook page, or on our Discord channel!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hi friends! Welcome to this month’s episode of A Study In Games podcast. For Season 6, we’re featuring games that were included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality that ran back in June in support of the Black Lives Matter moment. And for this episode, Olivia picked “User Is Typing // Message Sent;” a single-player, table-top, print-and-play game from Nevyn Holmes for our play-along game. Give us a listen on the link above or on your favorite podcast service.

As always, if you played along with us this month, join the conversation in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello Comrades and welcome to Episode 2 of Season 6 of our little podcast about the we play. This season, we’re featuring games that were included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality that ran back in June in support of the Black Lives Matter moment. For this episode, Joe picked Tonight We Riot as his choice for us to play and discuss. Developed by Pixel Pushers Union 512 and published by Means Interactive, this fun little arcade platformer packs a mighty punch with it’s message solidarity, revolution, and takin’ it to The MAN. Give us a listen at the link above or on your favorite podcast service.

And as always, if you played along with us this month, join the conversation in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page.

¡LA LUCHA CONTINUA!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello friends and welcome to Season 6, Episode 1 of our podcast. This season, we each picked a game from the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality that was featured on itch.io back in June. For July, we picked Odd Realm from Waylon Snedker at Unknown Origin Games Inc.

As the description on Steam put it, “Odd Realm is a settlement simulation game set in a procedurally generated, fantasy world where you control a group of Settlers to build, explore, and survive… probably…” We had a lot of fun playing this quirky take on the Rim World/Dwarf Fortress genre. Give us a listen at the link above or on your favorite podcast service.

And as always, if you’ve played Odd Realm we’d love to hear your thoughts. Tell us all about it in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello friends in Podcastland! For the month of May we played Lifeline 2: Bloodlines (iOS, Android) by Dave Justus and 3 Minute Games as part of our season of mobile games. This real-time, choose-your-own narrative game is the second in a collection of games in this critically-acclaimed, interactive storytelling genre.

We all really enjoyed playing this game, not only for it’s fun story, but for the way the game used the mobile environment to present the story at the core of the game. Give us a listen and let us know what you think in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Happy May to all of our friends out there in podcast land! We hope you’re all staying safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For last month’s podcast, we played the mobile port of classic Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lion from Square Enix. This turn-based, tactical RPG was originally published for the PlayStation Portable back in 2007 and ported to iOS in 2010 and Android in 2015.

We had mixed opinions about this game, and it gave us a lot to unpack in terms of game mechanics, UI/UX, the value of nostalgia, and much more. Give us a listen above or on your favorite podcast service. And as always, if you played along with us last month, let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello from coronavirus lockdown! We hope you’re all staying health and keeping up safe social distancing. For this month’s episode we sheltered in place and played Adorable Home from HyperBeard and Lake Queen games. It’s a great way to pass the time while you’re stuck in YOUR adorable home while the pandemic blows over.

If you played along with us, let us know what you thought of Adorable Home in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page. Stay well, friends!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hi friends and welcome to the February edition of A Study in Games! This season, we’re playing mobile games, and this month Joe picked the narrative-rich puzzle game, Lily’s Garden from Tactile Games. Join us as we talk about romance, birds and bees, relationship goals, and the oddly alluring world of mobile game advertising.

Give the podcast a listen, and let us know what you think in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Greeting and welcome to the January 2020 episode of A Study in Games Podcast. This month we were joined by our friend (and my wife) Carmen Mosley-Sims as we talked about the weird world of managing your quasi-Turkish empire as the Sultan-in-Chief in Game of Sultans from Mechanist Games. Join us as we discuss the finer points of endlessly addictive game loops, small worlds that seem big, and ethics in advertising for mobile games.

Give the podcast a listen, and let us know what you think in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello to all you mutants, raiders, and wasteland wanderers out there! Welcome to A Study in Games podcast. For the month of November, we played the classic 2008 game Fallout 3 from Bethesda Game Studios. This season, we’ve been playing games that are near and dear to our hearts, and Tanner chose Fallout 3 as “a game that reignited [his] interest in games.”

Give the podcast a listen, and let us know what you think in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Aloha, Trainers! Welcome to the October 2019 Study In Games podcast. This month we played games from the Pokemon main series, by Game Freak. We talked about the joys of exploring the pokemon world across multiple generations. We also touched on how the surprisingly complex and robust mechanics of this game helped sustain its popularity for 20 years and counting.

Not a lot of spoilers to warn you about in this episode, so go ahead and dive right in. And as always, if you’ve played Pokémon before (and we know you probably have), comment below or join the conversation on the Little Rock Games Facebook page!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hi-Ho Fiver! Welcome to the September 2019 Study in Games podcast. This month we played Monster Hunter World: Iceborne from Capcom and had lots to say about world-building, online communities, PvP, and a whole lot more. Give us a listen and let us know what you thought in the comments below or join the conversation on our Facebook page.

As always, there are SPOILERS throughout the podcast, so if you haven’t played this great game yet, go give a run-through and learn it all before we let the Pukei-Pukei out of the bag.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ever had déjà vu? That feeling that you’re going through the same dungeon? Like the film Groundhog Day, but with orcs, sorcerers, and mystical portals? You might be playing a rogue-like game!

For the month of August, we played Tales of Maj’Eyal 2 from Netcore Games (over and over again). Give the podcast a listen to hear what we thought about this surprisingly deep, deceptively complex rogue-like dungeon crawler. Find out why it’s one of Joe’s favorite games EVER and why he wanted to share it with us.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello to all you templars and wardens, nightblades and dragonknights, sorcerers and necromancers from Tamriel and beyond! For this month’s podcast, we played The Edler Scrolls Online from ZeniMax Online Studios and Bethesda Softworks. This was our first crack at an MMORPG on the podcast, and we had lots to say about what makes it and what breaks it for us. Give it a listen here on our website or from your favorite podcast service. As always, if you played along with us this month, leave a comment below or join the conversation on the Little Rock Games Facebook Page.

You may also notice that we’ve changed the name of our podcast from the “Game of the Month Club” to “A Study in Games.” After three seasons of the podcast we knew that we needed a name that better captured the depth of our conversation here with our focus on game design and mechanics. We settled on “A Study in Games.” All the same great talk and analysis, but with a catchy new title. We hope you enjoy the coming seasons.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello to all our awesome Gods and Goddesses of War out there in Podcastland! June was our grand season finale for Season 3 of our Game-of-the-Month podcast. And what grander way to end the season than to play the 2018 Game-of-the-Year, God of War!

Some of us had a great time playing this one, while one of us … eh, not so much. Listen in to see what we loved and what we hated about this enormous, beautiful, maddening title. 

If you played along with us, add your comments below or join the discussion over on the LRG Facebook page.  

As always, there are loads of SPOILERS in our podcast! So if you haven’t played God of War yet, go give it a good playthrough, and then come back and give our podcast a listen. Happy gaming!  

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello, wandering bards and roving minstrels! For the month of May, we played the musical adventure platformer, Wandersong by Greg Lobanov. We had a great time with the unique musical gem. Join us on the podcast where we talk about the highs and lows of musical games, the limitations of controllers, and our musings on what would make a perfect interactive music game.

If you played along with us, add your comments below or join the discussion over on the LRG Facebook page. And for early access to GotM episodes, exclusive polls, and hilarious outtakes, be sure to check us out over on our Patreon.

As always, there are loads of SPOILERS in our podcast! So if you haven’t played Wandersong yet, go give it a good playthrough, and then come back and give our podcast a listen. Happy gaming!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We had a whole lot to say about this exciting game for April. Robbie picked Ape Escape 2 by Sony Computer Entertainment and it made us go bananas! In this episode, we discuss games that are fun for the sake of it, nostalgia for games some of us played as kids, the ways Ape Escape attempted to innovate with the Dualshock controls, and more!

If you played along with us, or have awesome memories of playing Ape Escape back in the day, add your comments here or join the discussion over on the LRG Facebook page. And for early access to GOTM episodes, exclusive polls, and hilarious outtakes, be sure to check us out over on Patreon.

Good news is, we were mostly spoiler-free (for once)! But if you haven’t played the game yet, we still encourage you to give it a try before you listen in.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello again, friends, and welcome to the March 2019 edition of the Little Rock Games Game-of-the-Month Club! This month, we played dreamy Zelda-esque Anodyne from Anagesic Productions. We took a walk down memory lane to the 16-bit land of our childhoods. Give us a listen at the link below or on your favorite podcast service. And if you played along with us in the month of March, add your comments here or join the discussion over on the LRG Facebook page.

As always, this podcast is FULL OF SPOILERS about the game, so if you haven’t played the game yet, consider giving it run-through before you listen in.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello friends and welcome to this episode of the Game-of-the-Month Club Podcast! In February, we played the gorgeous platform-adventure game Gris by Spanish indie developer Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital. We had a lot to say about this one, so tune in and give it a listen. And if you played along with us, let us know what YOU thought of Gris in the comments below or on the Little Rock Games Facebook page.

As always, this podcast is FULL OF SPOILERS about the game, so if you haven’t played the game yet, consider giving it run-through before you listen in.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ahoy, me mates!! Welcome to the maiden voyage of Season 3 of our Game-of-the-Month Club podcast. For January, we played Return of the Obra Dinn from Lucas Pope. Listen in to find out who among us played their game ship-shape and Bristol fashion, who needed a little leeway, and who abandoned ship in this nautical, multi-murder-mystery, narrative game.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hi, friends! Welcome to our end-of-the-year season finale where we chat about some of the games that we’ve been playing that we DIDN’T feature in our regular Game-of-the-Month Club. We cover a lot of ground in this one, so give it a listen to find out who’s been trying to sell meat from the graveyard, who’s been relaxing with hidden-object games, who’s been hunting monsters all over the planet, who’s been selling matches in idle clickers, and who thinks our governments should be run by video game simulations!

Make sure you stick around to the end for some BIG announcements about our new Patreon page and Discord channel!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello Game-of-the-Month Club fans, and welcome to this episode of our podcast! For the month of November, Tanner picked Tacoma from Fulbright studios. Join us as we talk about this wonderful, theatrical “walking-sim,” how we don’t like the term “walking-sim,” and what we expect from cats on space stations. 

There are TONS of spoilers in this podcast, so if you haven’t played Tacoma yet, give it a try, then come back and give us a listen, just so we’re all on the same happy page. And make sure to add your comments below to keep the conversation going! 

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello Game-of-the-Month Club fans, and welcome to the October 2018 episode of our podcast! Last month, Robbie picked Hover from developers Midgar Studio, published by Playdius and Plug In Digital. We talk about all sorts of stuff like the limits of multiplayer experience, the vertigo response to fast FPS games, how older games inspire game designers to create something new as a tribute to the games they love, and a whole lot more. Give it a listen here or on your favorite podcast service.

There aren’t too many spoilers in this podcast, BUT if you haven’t played Hover yet, give a try, then come back and give us a listen, just so we’re all on the same happy page. And make sure to add your comments below to keep the conversation going! 

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

September has come and gone like a quirky caravan of exiles drifting across a brilliantly colored backdrop. For the September episode of our Game of the Month Club podcast, we played Pyre from Supergiant Games. Olivia picked this one-of-a-kind “action role-playing sports video game.” Listen in to find out who loved the fast-paced sports aspect of the game, who couldn’t stop talking about the original story setting and artwork, and who had to get their blood pressure checked from all the pyre-scorching, orb-running action.

As always, THERE ARE TONS OF SPOILERS IN THIS PODCAST! So if you haven’t played Pyre yet, give a try, then come back and give us a listen. And make sure to add your comments below to keep the conversation going!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Happy August, everybody! Welcome to this month’s episode of our Game-of-the-Month Club Podcast. This month, we played the award-winning, narrative walking sim, What Remains of Edith Finch developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. Give it listen as we talk about … SO MUCH STUFF about this wonderful game. And if you played the game along with us throughout the month, let us know what you thought in the comments below.

As always, THERE ARE TONS OF SPOILERS IN THIS PODCAST! So if you haven’t played Where the Water Tastes Like Wine yet, take a few hours to run through it, then come back and give us a listen. And make sure to add your comments below to keep the conversation going!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hello folks! For July we played Where the Water Tastes Like Wine from developers at Dim Bulb Games and Serenity Forge, published by Good Shepherd Entertainment. Join us for the podcast as we talk about rich narrative in games, trade-offs with UX/UI, the appeal of Americana and games that are “off the beaten path,” STING, and a whole lot more.

As always, THERE ARE TONS OF SPOILERS IN THIS PODCAST! So if you haven’t played Where the Water Tastes Like Wine yet, take a few hours to run through it, then come back and give us a listen. And make sure to add your comments below to keep the conversation going!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

And as always, tell us what you thought down in the comments below!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Hi friends! For this month’s Game-of-the-Month Club we play Cosmo D‘s surreal first-person adventure, The Norwood Suite. In this podcast, we talk about surreal art, characters as environment VS music as character, the Uncanny Valley, creep factor, and Bruce’s turtle. Join us for this interesting little game that’s off the beaten path of narrative games.

As always, THERE ARE TONS OF SPOILERS IN THIS PODCAST! So if you haven’t played The Norwood Suite yet, take a few hours to run through it, then come back and give us a listen. And make sure to add your comments below to keep the conversation going!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Welcome back for the April 2018 episode of our Game-of-the-Month Club! This month we played the 2017 release Nier:Automata from developer PlatinumGames and publisher Square Enix. We had so much to say about Nier:Automata that we’re even considering doing a second podcast later in the year just to cover it all! It’s an amazing feat of storytelling, action, adventure, and so much more. Join us as we discuss what we thought of the game in our GotM podcast.

As always, THERE ARE TONS OF SPOILERS IN THIS PODCAST! If you haven’t played it yet, we recommend you stop everything, reexamine your priorities, and spend 80+ hours playing this fantastic game. Then come back, listen to the podcast, and leave your comments below!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

For the month of March 2018, we played Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor from Sundae Month and tinyBuild. Join us (late) this month while we discuss the game’s aesthetics, meaningful frustration in games, and what it’s like to not be the protagonist of your own story. Also, which garbage is the tastiest? Spoiler: all of it.

Which one of us developed a romance with a sentient pile of dirt? Listen now to find out, and be sure to comment to be part of the discussion. We want to hear from you!

Also, as per usual… THERE ARE MANY SPOILERS FOR THE GAME IN THIS PODCAST.

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The latest episode of our game-of-the-month club is recorded, mixed, and ready for your ears! In February, we discussed Nantucket by Picaresque Studio. The discussion is a bit topsy-turvy, as the game got us exhilarated, fiery, and a bit seasick all at the same time. Sadly, no one in the group sang a sea shanty. On the plus side, we only killed forty-one baby narwhals during the recording process.

Have a listen, and, as always, comment below if you’d like to join the conversation about Nantucket!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Welcome to our very first, inaugural, premier, numero uno episode of our Game-of-the-Month podcast! For the month of January 2018, we played the game Everything from David OReilly and Double Fine Productions.

Have a listen, and please feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about … Everything!

Music credits: Plain Loafer, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) – Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/